Prepared by: JH CLARK Date: 11/6/97

CLARK, MARK W. (OH-131) 92 pgs. PRCQ

Military associate; Commander of 5th Army in the invasion in Italy, 1944-45; Commander-in-Chief of U.S. Occupation Forces in Austria and U.S. High Commander, 1945; Commander in Chief, U.N. Command, Korea, 1949-52.

DESCRIPTION: Clark’s friendship with Eisenhower beginning at West Point together again at Ft. Lewis, WA in 1938, when Eisenhower returned from the ; with Eisenhower in Washington, DC in 1941, to the Louisiana maneuvers and to London in 1942; planning Operation TORCH; Clark as commander of the 5th Army in Italy when Eisenhower was sent to London as Commander-in-chief for ; after the war, Clark as occupation commander in Austria; Eisenhower as occupation commander in Germany; daily communications on problem solving, refugee situations and other similarities; Clark returns to U.S. to San Francisco, the Pacific, and then to Korea as commander; arrangements made for Eisenhower visit 1952; political restrictions on military planning; the armistice and Clark’s return to civilian life as president of ; comments on the 1946 discussion with Eisenhower about running for the Presidency; reference to Clark’s book, Calculated Risk; Roosevelt’s trip to Italy and plans for Overlord with Clark in southern , and decisions made by the governments that changed the plans; comments on friendship and disagreements with Eisenhower on earlier assignments; friendship leading to promotion; working with George S. Patton; political pressure in Korea makes military action difficult; relationship with the British; decision for no use of atomic weapons; Eisenhower’s visit and Syngman Rhee; problems with Rhee; the end of negotiations and psychological weapon; comments on John Eisenhower; Clark’s book, From the Danube to the Yalu; disagreement with decisions from Washington; working with Robert Murphy and the Austrian Treaty; opinions on and similarities to Korea; military and political solutions to Korea; his idea for summer camps for boys using the Citadel facilities; comments on other military leaders-Maxwell Taylor, , Mike O’Daniel, Admiral Radford, Charles Wilson, Harold Alexander, ; comments on Eisenhower’s plan to reorganize the Defense Department to give more power to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Secretary of Defense; reminiscing about visits with Eisenhower during and after the presidency; Clark’s evaluation of Eisenhower as a military commander and as President.

[Columbia University Oral History Project, interview by John Luter, 1970]